Stephanie G. Mathis Belt and Road Initiative, also known as 21st century Silk Road (BRI), is one of the ways China aims to achieve this.
Map of the Silk Road proposed and its six corridors. Reuters
BRI was officially announced in 2013. It brings together a range of existing and novel elements to create an important link between China’s domestic imperatives and its global orientation. The BRI has become the focal point of China’s institutions, resources and ideas.
It is a Chinese concept that is characterized by inductive thinking and incrementalism. The BRI is not uniform, with different sections and legs. It includes the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which has an important developmental component, and also buying and operating ports within developed countries like Greece.
The BRI forum in Beijing, held on May 14-15, brought together dozens and dozens of heads of state from around the globe.
The BRI Forum in Beijing was attended by 29 heads of state, including Vladimir Putin on the left and Recep Tayyep Erdoan on the right. Kremlin Press Office CC By
The BRI was initially touted as a Asia-Europe-Africa initiative. However, now it’s clear that it’s a global initiative. It aims to include the Americas and Oceania.
Globalization
Over the past four decades, China’s economic growth has been a result of its integration into the global economy. It has also gradually improved its position within the world. It is impossible for a country to develop economically without other.
China is the largest economy in the world today. It will overtake the US economy in the not-too-distant future. It is the center of global economic growth.
As this Chinese-made Haier fridge in Havana demonstrates, goods made in China are taking over the world. Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters
China is expected to play a greater role in the shaping of the future global economy. The BRI will be one of the ways it does this.
The BRI promotes “international strategic economic partnerships and multilateral credits to address investment and infrastructure, employment, and economic development“, in order to reinvigorate global economic growth.
Production Capacity Cooperation is one of the key concepts in China’s approach. It can be described as the pooling of resources for mutual benefit. This is done to strengthen trade routes and supply chains, as well as to ensure a sustainable flow of goods and services.
This initiative is a global program that surpasses all other plans of this type. It is seven times bigger than the US Marshall Plan, which was implemented after World War II.
State and Market
The BRI is a result of Chinese policymakers’ experience of reform and opening-up in the country, and their evolving ideology of the Communist Party of China.
The BRI is a powerful statement that echoes the Sinified Marxism of today: the state has the primary responsibility for creating prosperity, and the market can help achieve this.
Alvin Y. Chu and Yin-Wah Chu, two developmental sociologists, describe the complex state-market nexus that exists in China. So and Yin Wah Chu use the deliberately contradictory term “state neoliberalism”, as opposed to “market neoliberalism”.
The theory posits the need for a powerful, stable party-state to be able to act decisively to fine-tune (both advance and reverse) market flows, scope and intensity regulation and create exceptions (such as a free economic zone).
The BRI places a strong emphasis on the state’s responsibility for stimulating innovation, which is a key factor in economic growth. This form of governance allows for the state to be integrated into global neoliberalism while developing political technologies that are built into laws, policies, and official discourses.
The Caspian coast of Russia, once a popular tourist destination, could benefit from BRI. Thomas Peter/Reuters
In the debate about bringing back the state in the economy, China’s example (and its so-called China Model) is often cited to challenge the Western model. Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz called the rise in China a “wake up call” for how we view the global economy.
This is how Chinese policymakers acquired soft power to boost their legitimacy.
The notion of a powerful state seeking political stability has inevitably opened up debates about the impact of China’s BRI on Democracy around the world.
In the same way, Chinese scholars and policymakers have repeatedly argued that China’s experience cannot be replicated. They have referred to allowing all nations to exercise sovereignty when deciding which model of development best suits their circumstances.
Common destiny
China’s leaders often espouse their vision for how international relations should evolve, even though they do not interfere in other nations’ affairs. This guiding concept was the “Community of Shared Future for Mankind” under Xi Jinping. It emphasized mutual respect and co-operation. All Chinese foreign initiatives have been designed with this in mind, including the BRI.
It is for this reason that Chinese policymakers and scholars argue that the BRI isn’t just a Chinese initiative but is “owned” jointly by all participating nations.
BRI is sometimes called a blueprint for a new version of globalization because it promotes the idea of a “common destiny” or a shared future. The term “inclusive globalisation” has also been used by development scholars. This term was previously promoted – but less successfully – by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Will the new Silk Road include more people? Reuters
The BRI is a way to create a more balanced, open, and inclusive regional economic architecture for all. The BRI echoes the principle that China has always adhered to, the central of its foreign policy, in which it has worked with developing countries, in particular, the Global South.
